Leonardo DiCaprio took a break from filming The Revenant to head to St. Tropez in the south of France to host the second annual gala for his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The event raised over $40 million, the foundation said.
The gala event featured a speech from DiCaprio, who pleaded with the wealthy guests to help his foundation protect endangered species and conserve the jungles and coral reefs where the animals live.
“We’ve decimated our forests, wildlands, polluted and overfished our rivers and oceans; all the key ecosystems that not only serve as a home to our planet’s biodiversity, but also make life here for us possible,” DiCaprio said.
He continued, “I’m incredibly proud to be part of a night that will allow us to do so much to protect the planet.”
DiCaprio himself auctioned off his Rolex Daytona Cosmograph watch and artwork by Andy Warhol and Banksy. His own pieces raised a combined $2 million. Colony Capital founder Tom Barrack also spent $11 million on an estate on DiCaprio’s Belize island.
Prince Albert of Monaco offered a trip to the arctic with him, which went for over $1.6 million. Two private concerts by Elton John sold for $3 million in total.
One of the more interesting offers was being a personal guest to movie producer Harvey Weinstein for a year. You would get to go to the Oscars, the White House Correspondents Dinner and even the Cannes Film Festival. That offer went for “just” $1.1 million.
The event included performances by John and John Legend. Several celebrities were also there, including Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Adrien Brody, Orlando Bloom, Chris Tucker, Irina Shayk, Heidi Klum and Goldie Hawn.
DiCaprio is currently working on Alejandro G. Inarritu’s The Revenant. The actor established his foundation in 1998.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com